Old Project
by wamakima5004
Summary: These information are just basic knowledge of Greek Myths that I made for school. Just some facts you may or may not know.
1. Aphrodite

Introduction:

Aphrodite is the goddess of love, beauty, and sexuality. The Roman equivalent of here is Venus. She is usually portrait as a beautiful woman with her son, Ero (Cupid) being nearby. Her symbols are doves, dolphins, swans, and roses. Many stories say that Aphrodite is born from the sea foam which is Uranus' genitals. The name Aphrodite comes from seam foam (aphros).

Personality:

Aphrodite is irresistible. She likes to demand desires and attractions. She is sometimes a spoiled, full of herself and childish god. She cursed anyone that claimed they are more beautiful than her. As she is the goddess of love, she is also known for playing the matchmaker for Helen/Paris, Jason/Medea, etc.

Relationships:

As Aphrodite is the goddess of love, many mortals and gods fell in love with her. Zeus was scared that the gods would fight over Aphrodite's hand in marriage so he married her off to Hephaestus, deformed and lame god. Unfortunately for Hephaestus, Aphrodite love glamour and fun, and was not happy being a wife of a hard-working and ugly god. Of course, the handsome Ares caught her eyes. Not only Ares caught her eyes, but also many handsome heroes like Adonis and Anchises.

Adonis:

Adonis was the son of Mryyha and the King of Cyprus, Cinyras. His mother offended Aphrodite by claiming her daughter was more beautiful than the goddess herself. Aphrodite cursed Myrrha to have lust for his own father, Cinyras. Cinyras was disgusted by this so Mrrha disguise herself as a prostitute, and secretly sleep with her father at night. Myrrha became pregnant. Cinyras chased her out with a knight, Myrrha pleaded for mercy to the gods. The gods decide to turn her into a Myrrah tree.

Myrrah gave birth to a baby boy named Adonis. Aphrodite took pity on the baby boy and let Persephone to take care of him in the underworld. Adonis grew up to be very handsome young man. Aphrodite and Persephone grew fond of him. Aphrodite demanded Persephone to hand over Adonis but Persephone refused. The both goddess started to quarrel until Zeus has to intervene. He decided that Adonis stay four months with Aphrodite,four months with Persephone, and the rest is to who he decided. Of course, he chose Aphrodite.

Adonis' passion was to hunt. Aphrodite would go with him everywhere he goes. She was too busy with Adonis that Aphrodite was forgetting her duties as a goddess. When Aphrodite was forced back to her duties, she was worried about him so she left a warning: Don't attack an animal that shows no fear. Adonis agreed but secretly thought she was underestimating his ability to hunt.

Not long after Aphrodite was gone, a huge boar came in front of Adonis. Adonis started to chase it but it suddenly turned back and attacked him. Adonis had no change against the boar. He was dying of blood loss. Aphrodite rushed to his side but she was too late. Red flowers called anemones grew where Adonis's blood fell on the soil. Many people believe the boar was Ares himself who was jealous of Adonis.

Persephone was delighted that Adonis was back to her side. Aphrodite rushed the underworld to get him back and another quarrel started. Zeus changed the terms into Adonis stays 6 months with Aphrodite and the other 6 months with Persephone. At every spring and autumn, a festival is host in his name.

Interesting Facts:

The island of Cyprus was believed to the place that Aphrodite rose from the sea foam. It is located the south of Turkey. The Cypriots started to host tourist-friendly version of Aphrodite's festivals.

The planet is named after the Roman version of Aphrodite because it is one of the brightest things in the night sky.


	2. Apollo

Introduction:

Apollo is the god of light and the sun, truth and prophecy, medicine, healing, plague, music, poetry, arts, archery, and more. The Roman name for him is still the same. He is usually represent by lyre, laurel, or bow and arrows. Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto and has a twin sister, Artemis. According to many sources, Artemis is older than him.

Personality:

Generally he is playful yet sometimes serious, artistic, proud god. He is very honest as he is the god of truth. Apollo was very protective like his sun cattle and Artemis.

Relationships:

He is an overprotective brother which leads to the death of Orion the hunter.

He is not married. He is bisexual so he has many women and some men as mates. He has many children like Asclepius, the god of medicine He doesn't take rejections very well. For example, when the seer Cassandra rejected him, he punished her by making it impossible for people to believe her prophecies. Also Daphne rejected Apollo and ran away from him. Her father helped her by turning her into a laurel tree. This is why laurel tree is sacred to Apollo.

He loves his mother very much. When he was only four days old when he followed and killed the Python as a revenge for having given a hard time to his mother. He doesn't like Hera as she is the one send Python after Leto. He is Zeus' favorite son. Zeus

Power of Prophecy:

The Python is the son of Gaia. He was sent by Hera to torment Leto for having affair with Zeus. Apollo went after him. Apollo wounded the snake with his first shot. The serpent crawled back to her cave in the city of Delphi, but Apollo followed it and this time succeeded in killing the snake with his second shot. The citizens of Delphi were glad to be rid of her and were grateful to Apollo - later Delphi was established as the center of Apollo's worship. The Python was the Oracle of Delphi, the greatest prophet of all time. When he killed the snake, some of the power of prophecy became Apollo's. He took over the Temple of Delphi and learned the art of prophecy.

Interesting Facts:

A lot of things are named after Apollo like hospitals. The most famous is the Apollo space program.

Once Apollo entered a music contest, and one of the contestants played so badly that he grew donkey ears.


	3. Ares

Introduction:

Ares is the god of war, civil order, courage, and battle. He is the son of Zeus and Hera. The roman name for him is Mars. Unlike his roman counterpart, he was never very popular as he represents brutal violence and slaughter. He is usually compared to Athena, goddess of warfare. Usually it is the soldiers that worship him to give them victory and courage while the generals give offers to Athena. The other gods is not very fond of him as he is very hard to communicate to. His symbols are boar, dog, spear, and helmet.

Personality:

He is immature god and finishes disagreement by fighting. As he is the patron of soldiers, he acts like one, rough, bad tempered, something of a bully. He acts without thinking and go straight on to battle. Although he acts tough, he is coward. Whenever he starts a war, he will take a side. If his side is losing, he will switch sides until one side wins.

Relationships:

His main lover is Aphrodite. He has to secretly meet her as Hephaestus makes traps to catch them in act and humiliate Ares. Most of his children are also Aphrodite like Eros. Some of his children are his helpers for war like the god of fear and terror, Deimos and Phobos. He don't have good relationships with other gods because of his attitudes and manners.

Caught in the Act:

When Ares and Aphrodite started their affair, they meet at the Hephaestus and Aphrodite's bedroom when Hephaestus was at work. Hephaestus was furious when he heard this information. He decided to catch them and humiliate them. He went to his forges and got his great anvil into its place, and began to forge some chains which none could either unloose or break. When he finished, he set the trap above his bed like a spider web. He made the chain so fine that not even a god could see them.

He acted that he going to his forges. Ares saw his chance and went into the house to where Aphrodite is waiting for him. The trap sprung when they were making love. They cannot get up or move. Hephaestus started to go back when his scouts report to him. When Hephaestus entered the room, he called all the god and goddess to witness the affair.

He said," Father and all you other blessed gods come here and see the ridiculous and disgraceful sight that I will show you. Aphrodite is always dishonoring me because I am lame. She is in love with Ares, who is handsome and clean built, whereas I am a cripple- but my parents are to blame for that, not I; they ought never to have begotten me. Come and see the pair together asleep on my bed. It makes me furious to look at them. They are very fond of one another, but I do not think they will lie there longer than they can help, nor do I think that they will sleep much; there, however, they shall stay until her father has repaid me the sum I gave him for his baggage of a daughter, who is fair but not honest."

Interesting Facts:

1. As not many people want war, there are not many Ares temples.

2. His main weakness is Aphrodite. War is follow close as second place. As one say, loves conquer all.

3. Mars was named after him because of the color, red, which is the color of blood and rage.


	4. Artemis

Introduction:

Artemis is the goddess of hunting, wilderness, forest and mountains, wild animals, maidens, and childbirth. She is usually portrayed with a bow and quiver of arrows and a deer by her side. She is the daughter of Zeus and Leto, Older twin sister of Apollo. According to many stories, Artemis is born a day before Apollo on the island of Ortyiga, which is south of Sicily. The roman name is Diana. She is usually with an immortal group of maidens called the Hunters of Artemis. The deer and the cypress were sacred to her.

Personality:

Artemis' personality is very similar to Athena. She is independent, temperament, strict goddess. She hates men and loves animal as she considers men less than animals. She is a little sexist as she thinks very lowly of most men. She punished people harshly if someone disrespects her. For example, a hunter named Actaeon stumbled across her while she bathed, was turned into a stag, and was killed by his own hunting dogs.

Relationship:

Artemis has a group of maidens called Hunter of Artemis. Each of her hunters has to sworn loyalty to Artemis, to join her in the hunt and stay away from men for the rest of their lives. They will get punished harshly if they break their vows. When a hunter gets pregnant by Zeus, Artemis turned her into a bear. Then, the bear was killed by her own son. The hunters are blessed with excellent archery abilities, increase in many types of skills, and eternal youth. The Hunters have a silvery aura and are probably stronger, faster, and more accurate than the average demigod, nymph, or mortal.

One of famous men that are connected to Artemis is Orion. He was the son of Poseidon and Euryale. He was a man of gigantic proportions. He is also a good hunter. There are many stories lead to Orion death. See below for more detail story.

Orion and Artemis:

There is no need to deny that Artemis had something to do with Orion's death. There are many conflicting stories about why she killed him. One account said that Orion tried to rape Artemis and she killed him. Another account states that Orion boasted that he is the best hunter on earth so Artemis sent a scorpion to bring about his death. The third one is the one that many are most familiar with. Orion is a good hunter so he and Artemis became good friends and slowly became closer. Apollo was jealous of Orion and protective of Artemis. When Orion is swimming far out in the sea, Apollo challenged Artemis to shot that tiny dot. Artemis, being the prideful huntress and an excellent archer, accepted her brother's challenge and shot Orion in the head. When Artemis realized what she had done, she put him in the sky as the constellation Orion.

Interesting Facts:

1. Artemis is one of a few beings that is immune to Aphrodite's love power.

2. Artemis's name is still used today like Luna (Latin for moon) and Diana

3. According to many sources, Artemis is the second most beautiful being on Earth while Aphrodite is first.


	5. Athena

Introduction:

Athena is the virgin goddess of wisdom, warfare strategy, justice, civilization, and crafts. She is the daughter of Zeus and Metis, goddess of wisdom. The roman name is Minerva. Although she is the goddess of warfare, she is more for the strategy than the killing itself. She also works closely with Nike, the goddess of victory. It is mainly reason many people worship her to hope she can grant them a glorious victory. She is well respected, as she is the goddess of wisdom. She and Poseidon don't really get alone. Her symbols are owls, olive trees, and Aegis.

Personality:

She is portrayed to be ambitious, mature, cautious, and rational woman. She may be motivated by her own priorities than the need of others. She is like a strict teacher that loves to teach. She dislikes fighting without reason and preferred to use wisdom to settle disagreement. She is always fair and just. She is a virgin goddess and do not likes when a male try to hits on her.

Relationship:

She is respected throughout the whole world, gods and mortals alike for her wisdom and judgment. Not many wishes to go against her. As she is a maiden goddess, she is not very interested in men and romance.

She is Zeus' favorite girl. She is the only one of his children that Zeus ever entrusted with his magic shield and the secret of where his master bolt was. She is his constant ally and a wise advisor.

There were a few conflicts between Poseidon and Athena but there are no proofs that Poseidon and Athena have a big rivalry. See the story about Athens below.

Birth:

Athena is born in a unique way. At that time, Zeus has his first wife, Metis. Metis was the goddess of wisdom at that time. Zeus got a prophecy that Metis' son can overthrow him. When he learned Metis is pregnant, he swallowing her whole. After a few days, Zeus got a very serious headache. It is decided that Zeus' head need to be examined so Hephaestus got his hammer and spilt Zeus' head. Out came a full grown woman in her battle armor. As the prophecy states it is a son that can hurt him, he quickly accepts Athena.

Interesting Facts:

1. One of her epithets titles is "Gray-eyed". Her gift to Athens was the olive tree. The underside of the olive tree's leaf is gray, and when the wind lifts the leaves, it shows Athena's many "eyes".

2. She invented many things like the ship, flute and the chariot.

3. The Parthenon was the most famous temple of Athena. It is called Parthenon because Parthenos means young maiden and -on means place so the translation should be the place of the young maidens.


	6. Demeter

Introduction

Demeter is the goddess of agriculture, earth, grain, harvest, and bread. The Roman counterpart is called Ceres. She is portrayed as a mature woman holding sheaves of wheat. She is the daughter of Kronos and Rhea, the sister of Zeus, Poseidon, Hestia, Hera, and Hades. She is the mother of Persephone, the goddess of flowers and the wife of Hades. The change of seasons is also connected with Demeter. Sacred to her are livestock and agricultural products, poppy, narcissus and the crane.

Personality:

Demeter can be seen as a protective mother figure than the rest of the Olympians. She cares for her daughter very much and misses her dearly when she is gone. She is generous, understanding, kind, and respectful woman. That is why she gained the sympathy and favor of the other Olympian gods.

Relationships:

She is a loving mother. She loves her daughter, Persephone very much. She became depressed after Persephone's abduction. See the full story below.

Demeter has very good relationships with the mortals as she gives the mortals the power to harvest which means more permanent settlements. It also means the rise of cities and city states. She has more interactive with mortals while in disguise.

Abduction of Persephone

Persephone is the daughter of Demeter. There is no clear answer to who is her father but most thinks it is Zeus. Persephone is the daughter that many people wish for as she is obedient and cheerful girl. When she grew up, Persephone became carefree and spirited. She would dance and pick flowers in the meadow. Her beauty catch Hade's eyes and he could not help falling in love with her. Hades decided to talk to Zeus. Zeus agrees to the marriage without Persephone's and Demeter's knowledge and permission.

One day, Persephone is picking flowers in a meadow, the earth opens, and the arm of Hades reaches out and grabs her. She was dragged to the Underworld, the Hade's kingdom. Although Demeter rushes to the meadow, she was too late.

When Demeter heard what Zeus did, she left Olympus and swears that the land will never grow until her daughter is return to her. Then, she went to the city of Eleusis, disguised as an old woman. She met with the city rulers and they liked her so they invited her to their home. When she met a mother who was cuddling her baby, she became very depressed. Many people tried to cheer her up, but with no success as they didn't know the reason behind this. Finally, a female maid made many humorous comments and Demeter became herself again. Demeter became the nanny for an infant son, Demophoon.

She soon grew attach Demophoon as she care for him very much. She decided to make him a god. But, just as Demeter was holding his feet over the fire (the ritual which would transform him into an Olympian god, Demophoon's mother entered the room. The mother thought that Demeter was going to burn her son alive so she stopped Demeter. Demeter revealed herself and told the mother for her stupidity for stopping the ritual. When she was leaving, Demeter demanded a temple to be built for her. She left and became depressed for lost daughter again.

During this time, the land became barren and harvest decreased as Demeter was not doing anything. Zeus quickly knew that this is not very good; therefore he tried to persuade Demeter to come back. Demeter only wanted one thing – Persephone. Zeus finally gave in and contacted Hades.

Persephone was very happy when she heard the news as she missed her mother dearly. Hades quickly offered Persephone a pomegranate to eat. If someone ate food in the Underworld, they have to stay in the Underworld. Persephone didn't know that. Also, she is very hungry as she rejected her food before the news so she ate it.

Demeter was not happy that Persephone ate the pomegranate seeds and has to return to the Underworld for at least four months every year. During the four month that Persephone was gone, she longs for her daughter and stop working as a goddess. This period as we called is winter. When Persephone returns, she became happy and blessed the earth with new lives.

Interesting Facts:

Demeter started the Eleusinian Mysteries. These were huge festivals held every five years. There is not many information about it as the attending people were sworn to secrecy.


	7. Dionysus

Introduction:

Dionysus is the god of wine, grape, theater, fertility of nature, party, wilderness vegetation, predators big cats, and madness. He is also the patron of arts. His roman name is Bacchus. He usually is a young man with a ivy crown on his head and have a thyrsus which is staff wounded with ivy in his hands. He is the son of Zeus and Semele, the princess of Thebes. He is the only god with a mortal mother. He has a unlucky youth as Hera dislike him very much and he been ripped apart more than one time. He has many followers like satyrs and wild women. His symbols are thyrsus, grapevine, tiger, panther, and leopard.

Personality:

Dionysus' personality is two-sided like wine. Wine can make people relax and have fun but have a big side effects like drunk and a little of memory loss. He is usually a relaxed and laid-back god. He can a cruel god or a joy-god. He can be kind when the other gods are not or he can turn people mad. He can be the most unpredictable gods on Olympus.

Relationship:

Dionysus was not on a good terms with Hera. She arranged for the Titans to kill him. They ripped him apart. Fortunately, the titan, Rhea brought him back to life. Zeus send him to the mountain nymphs to be raised for his protection. There is the starting point to his learning of winemaking.

Birth:

He was only god that has a mortal mother, Semele. Zeus promised Semele to grant her one wish. She even made his swear on the River Styx. Zeus was blinded by love and agreed. She asked Zeus to show her his true form. Zeus knew that Semele will be burn to crisp when he does it, but he has to do it. So he did and Semele died but he managed to save his Dionysus. Zeus stitched him into his thigh to hold him until he was ready to be born. This may be the reason that he was immortal.

Interesting Facts:

He married a mortal who he turns into a goddess. She is Ariadne, princess of Crete. She is the one who gave Theseus the string to lead him back in Labyrinth.

Other than his birth, Dionysus doesn't have many big myths. It is mostly small stories with his followers.


	8. Hephaestus

Introduction:

Hephaestus is the god of technology, blacksmiths, craftsmen, volcanoes, and fire. His roman form is Vulcan. He is born crippled and weak so he is portrayed as an ugly blacksmith at work. He is the son of Hera. Some versions said he is also the son of Zeus. There are two versions about the reason that he is thrown off Olympus. One version is that Hera thinks he is too ugly when he is born so she threw him off Olympus. Another version is that Hephaestus sided with Hera when Zeus and Hera were fighting and Zeus threw him off Olympus for being disrespectful and not being his child. After he is thrown, he landed near the island of Lemnos. He built his palace and forges under the volcano. He is married to Aphrodite but also a daughter of Zeus, Aglaea. His symbols are hammers, anvil, and tongs.

Personality:

He is kind and hard-working god. As he is considered lame, he don't have many godly friends so he make great things to keep him occupied like the bow and arrows of Apollo and Artemis. He is very bitter about how the other gods treated him like his unfaithful wife, Aphrodite. He tends to be disappointed in life and in people. Although he is bitter, he is the lover of many things like Aphrodite and some demigods.

Relationship:

He disliked Hera very much as he tricked her into a faulty throne. See full story below.

Hephaestus had a bad start with his wife, Aphrodite as she thought he is lame ugly. She also cheated on him with Ares, but he loved her too much. As one say, love is blind.

He was a little bitter with other gods and other living beings in general because they thought he is ugly and lame. He just usually work and work to keep him busy.

Leaving and Coming Back Olympus:

Hephaestus was the only god that left and came back to Olympus. There were two theories to how Hephaestus was thrown off Olympus, but for this story to make sense, it is Hera who abandoned him.

Hera threw Hephaestus off Olympus as she disliked how her son looks. Hephaestus flew for a whole day before landing in the sea. The sea nymphs rescued him and brought him to Lemnos, an island of Greece in the northern part of the Aegean Sea. He built his palace and forges under the volcano of Lemnos. He secretly plotted a plan to get revenge from Hera. Hephaestus made a very beautiful throne for Hera. Hera who had no idea of this plan sat on the throne and found out that she was stuck on the throne.

The other gods tried to get Hera out of the chair and tried to reason with Hephaestus. Even Ares was driven off with his flames. Hephaestus still refused to listen. Dionysus gave Hephaestus wine until Hephaestus was drunk. In his drunken state, he was dragged to Olympus, but he still refused. Hephaestus demanded that he could return to Olympus and also have either Aphrodite or Athena as his wife. Zeus accepted his demands and gave Aphrodite to him. Hephaestus released Hera and Dionysus was rewarded by made into an Olympian.

Interesting Facts

Hephaestus is the one cut open Zeus' head who he had a serious headache.

Hephaestus made the first mortal woman out of clay. Her name was Pandora.

He made many weapons for the gods like Zeus's thunderbolt, Athena's Aegis, and Eros' (Cupid's) love arrows.


	9. Hera

Introduction:

Hera is the Greek goddess of marriage. She is the Queen of the Gods as she is married to Zeus, the King of the Gods.

**Hera **(Ήρα in Ancient Greek) is the Greek goddess of marriage, and women. She is the wife and older sister of Zeus, and therefore Queen of the Gods. She is the youngest daughter of Rhea and Kronos, and was also swallowed by her father Kronos along with all of her other siblings. When Zeus alone was spared by their mother, he rescued Hera and the others from their father. Her Roman counterpart is **Juno**.


	10. Hermes

Hermes

Introduction:

Hermes is the god of roads, travel, diplomacy, trade, thievery, cunning, heralds, and sports. He is the messenger of the gods and the guide to the underworld. He is usually a handsome, athletic, and breadless youth or as a older bearded man. His roman form is Mercury. He is the son of Zeus and a nymph Maia who is the daughter of the titan, Atlas. His symbols are caduceus, winged boots, and winged travelers cap.

Personality:

He is known for his cunning and shrewdness. He is a mischievous prankster. He is a young god who saw nothing wrong with lying and stealing, if it amused him. Although he has a trickster side, he has the sense of dutiful responsibility. In some ways, he can rival Athena's thinking.

Relationship:

Hermes was Zeus' right hand man as he is very cunning and complete orders very well. Zeus ask him for advice when Athena can't like the problem with Zeus, Hera, and his lover. For example, Io was the lover of Zeus. Hera quickly suspected of a affair and confront Zeus. Zeus quickly turned Io into a cow to hide her but Hera demanded that she want the cow. Hera gave the cow to Argos, the hundred eye guardian for guarding. Zeus sent Hermes to get her back. Hermes enchanted Argos to sleep by playing music and get Io back to Zeus.

Hermes and Apollo became very close brothers after what happened with the thief of the cows.

The Youngest Thief:

Soon after Hermes was born, his mother put him in a cradle and fell asleep. He was born in a cave on Mount Cyelle, which is in Acadia, Greece. The mischievous baby got out and went to Pieria, which near Athens and very far from Mount Cyelle. In Pieria, Apollo's cows were grazing. He stole them and herded them back home. He was clever enough to have some cows walk backward and also clear some tracks on the way. On the way home, he found a tortoise. He killed and took the shell with him.

He sacrificed two cows to the Olympians when he got home. Then, he used the intestines of the sacrificed cows and put them on the shell of the tortoise. It is the first lyre. It had nine chords, in the honor of the nine muses. After all that, he became tried and went back to sleep in his cradle.

As Apollo was the god of prophecy, he quickly discovered that Hermes was the thief of his cows. He quickly found Hermes and told his mother what her son did. Maia didn't believe that. Apollo had no proof until he found the lyre that was made from the intestines of his cows.

Baby Hermes was brought to Zeus. Zeus saw everything that happened and told Hermes to give his service to Apollo. Hermes started to play the lyre. Apollo was so draw in that he decided to let Hermes keep the cattle for the lyre. The lyre became the symbol of Apollo. 

Interesting Facts:

The plant Mercury gets its name as it is the closest to the sun; therefore, it is the fastest planet to make one orbit.

Hermes doesn't have temples but he had many statues.


	11. Poseidon

Introduction:

Poseidon is the god of sea, earthquakes, and horses. He considered responsible for shipwrecks and drowning. Although there were various rivers personified as gods, these would have been technically under Poseidon's reign. He is Neptune in the Roman form. He is usually seen with his trident in his hands. He is one of the elder gods so he is the brother of Zeus and Hades and the son of Kronos and Rhea. He is the husband of Amphitrite, a nymph and ancient sea goddess. He has many children like the Cyclops and Orion. His symbols are trident, fish, dolphins, and horses.

Personality:

Poseidon is a moody and unpredictable god. When he is mad, he cause storms, hurricanes, or rough seas. He usually acts that he is equal to Zeus in strength and power so they quarrel a lot. He is a player like Zeus with many children. Fortunately, Amphitrite is not a jealous wife like Hera expect for some occasions.

Relationship:

Poseidon usually fights with his brothers, Hades and Zeus. Mainly he fights with Zeus, believing that he and Zeus are equal in power.

Although he lost to Athena for the fight over Athens, he worked cooperatively with her in the Trojan War. Also he already had revenge on Athens by giving it droughts.

Poseidon and his wife had a fairly good relationship. She is not as jealous as Hera. Only a few suffer her jealously. One of them is Scylla who used to be a beautiful nymph. She was changed into a monster that terrorized sailors. Amphitrite even helped Theseus, a demi-god and a son of Poseidon by giving her crown to prove he is the son of Poseidon to Minos.

Athens:

When the city state of Athens started to rise from the ground, the founder, King Cecrops decided that they need a patron for the city. Poseidon and Athena were interested in this position. Poseidon went first. He struck his trident and immediately a spring came out, but it is salt-water so it is not much use. Then, it is Athena's turn. She made a hole in the ground with her spear. Then, she buried an olive branch in the hole, creating an olive tree. King Cecrops chose Athena and named the city after her: Athens. Poseidon was not pleased and cursed the city to never have enough water. That is still major problem nowadays.

Interesting Facts:

There are two theory of the parentage of Poseidon wife, Amphitrite. One is Oceanu, the titan of the sea. The other is the Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea. (The man in Titan's Curse)


	12. Zeus

Introduction:

Zeus is the leader of the gods, the god of sky and weather, and law and order. His Roman counterpart is called Jupiter. He is usually seen as a man with a big beard in a throne and holding a thunderbolt. He is the son of Kronos and Rhea. He is married to Hera but have many affairs. He has many son and daughters including Ares, Hebe, Athena, etc. His symbols are thunderbolt and eagle.

Personality:

He is a strong, stubborn, bad temper player and control freak, but sometimes he is a caring, peacemaking, proud father. He can get anger quickly and cause a storm. He is very famous for have many affairs with many goddesses, titans, and mortals and has about 40 godly children while Aphrodite has about 10 godly children. As he is the king of the gods, he need to be judge fairly but he react violently if he feels threaten to be overthrown.

Relationships:

He is not very faithful to his wife, Hera. Although he is scared of Hera's wrath, he still sneaks out with other women. More half of the Olympians are his son or daughter. According to many myths, his favorite son is Hermes and his favorite daughter is Athena.

He usually liked to fight with his brother as they can be the real threat to his throne as the power of Poseidon and Hades can match Zeus. Also Poseidon sometimes challenges his seat of power.

Rise of the Olympians and Fall of the Titans:

Before the Titans, there were Gaia, primordial Earth-goddess and Uranus, primordial Sky-god. They gave birth to the Titans, the Cyclopes, and many monsters. Uranus disliked his offspring except the Titans and forced them to return to Gaia's womb. The pain angered Gaia. She called the Titans to help her to get revenge. Kronos came to her aid and overthrown Uranus with Gaia's help. Then, Kronos married his sister, Rhea.

According to a prophecy, one of Kronos' children will overthrow him like he overthrew Uranus. He tried to avoid this prophecy by swallowing his children. They had six children: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus. Rhea can't stay that all her children will be eaten, so she tricked Kronos by giving him a stone in a blanket instead of Zeus. This shows that Zeus should be the youngest brother of the gods. There are at least 7 different versions to how Zeus was raised. The most well-known is Rhea hid him herself.

When Zeus grew up into manhood, he forced Kronos to throw his brothers and sister up. They were reunited again. They got the help from the Cyclopes. The Cyclopes made the ultimate weapons for the gods, Zeus' master bolt, Poseidon's trident, and Hades' helm of darkness. With the new weapons and the help of many allies, the gods overthrew Kronos. Then, they spilt up the world into three parts: Zeus got the sky, Poseidon got the sea, and Hades got tricked and had the underworld.

Interesting Facts:

It is said that when confronting Kronus, Zeus collaborated with his siblings who had been freed from the belly of their father. In the end Hades was the one to silently surprise Kronus by wearing an invisibility helmet, followed by Poseidon who immobilized his body. Zeus swiftly took advantage of the situation and destroyed his father by striking him with a deadly thunderbolt.

Zeus was well known for disguising himself in various animal forms to visit earth and seduce many appealing maidens.

He sometimes uses the fact that he helped his siblings to get out Kronos' stomach as blackmail.


	13. My own thoughts

I really want to put Hestia, Hades, and Cupid as I don't have much time. Maybe I can put it up later.

As you know, this is for the personal project for the MYP system. I feel good and proud doing this. I can't really explain it. I had many delays including corrupted files and the temptation of gaming. I hope you guys can find my information is good enough. Some of the information on the internet is too general so I have to group them together.

Percy Jackson is the main reason that I choose Greek mythology as the topic. A year ago (2010), I was obsessed with Percy Jackson (still is). I was so obsessed that I started the read fanfiction. I read most of the 5k and up stories, skipping the oneshots... I have seen the rise of the idea of Percy as Chaos soldier and Percaemis. I want to thank many fanfiction authors for make the dreams (AU) come true in many minds. The only two pairs I accepted are Percy/Annabeth (It is official so it is kind of stuck in my head) and Percy/Artemis (It is special but the main reason that you can the see the reason below to why I like Artemis)

For this website, I don't know if I am neutral or a little biased as Rick Riodion made me believe that Poseidon was amazing. I love it how he catch the personality of the gods very well (plus made the gods less violent )and put some of his own idea in.

Greek mythology is the main reason that I like Greece. For example, I like to choose Greek (Spartan + archers + sucky cav) or Macedonia in Rome total war just because of this. For anyone who plays Shogun 2, I named all my vets basing on Greek mythology. For example, my katana hero is Mars. This just proves that I am too obsessed in Greek Mythology.

Many may ask me: what is my favorite god or goddess?

Well I have three of them, Poseidon, Artemis, and Athena.

Poseidon have many cool powers with water. To who had watched the anime, Avatar the Last Airbender, water has many amazing tricks like healing.

Artemis: I am a teenage boy and a nerd. It is pretty cool to have a stubborn, beautiful goddess to like you while hate the other male kind so yeah...so basically she is like almost every men dream. Also I read too much very good Percaemis stories.

Athena: Like I said above, I am a nerd so I am almost (not there) a gamer. I prefer to play strategy games like most of the total war series (Rome, Napoleon, and Shogun 2), civilization 3 & 4, Age of Empire II, Age of Mythology, and R.U.S.E. Therefore, I respect Athena a lot for her wisdom on the battlefield.


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